Police staged fake encounter to implicate me: Kasab

MUMBAI: Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab today accused police of staging a fake encounter at Girgaum Chowpatty to falsely implicate him in the 26/11 attacks and told the Bombay High Court that he had not killed constable Tukaram Ombale.

Facing death penalty for his role in the killing of 166 people in the attacks, Kasab denied his presence at Chowpatty on the night of November 26, 2008.

Lawyer Amin Solkar said prosecution had alleged that there was a scuffle between police and Kasab in which police snatched the rifle belonging to his client after he killed Ombale. A spot panchnama was drawn which showed that a rifle was found on the road near Skoda car in which Kasab was apprehended.

However, the weapon taken away by police from Kasab was not produced before the court, he argued.

The weapon found on the spot does not belong to Kasab and he is also not responsible for the murder of constable Ombale, Solkar argued.

Solkar, assisted by lawyers Farhana Shah and Santosh Deshpande, further argued that the weapon was "planted" at the spot by police to implicate Kasab in the crime.

The case of the prosecution is that Kasab and his partner Abu Ismael had snatched the rifle of police officer Ashok Kamathe after killing him and two other policemen. Then they sped towards Girgaum Chowpatty after hijacking a Skoda car.

A division bench of Justice Ranjana Desai and Justice R V More are hearing confirmation of death sentence awarded to Kasab by the trial court on May 6.